It's been an interesting and busy day for us. I awoke to the pounding sounds of Beat It this morning at 3:30am. This continued on an off until 7:00am! Not a restful night - I looked out the windows, but really didn't see anything in the street. Finally, I realized it was coming from the restaurant across the street. Later tonight, I found that this was NOT to be expected each weekend. It was some sort of special thing commemorating Michael Jackson, who died this week. I had forgotten some of those songs! (Do you remember "Ben" - about the rat?)We didn't get up until about 10:30, not well rested. We decided to go for a walking tour around the Marais (using our Lonely Planet guidebook). It was a nice warm day and we strolled through medieval Paris. There are many fashionable shop in the area. We spent a bit of time at the Musee Carnavalet (below), saw Saint Paul's, and Place des Voges. The picture shows a section of the original Hotel de Ville (City Hall), relocated to the Marais. The original was destroyed during the French Revolution. We ate in a crowded brasserie in the Place and stopped at the grocery store on our way home for water. I think our future includes a trip to the department store on Rivoli for a water purifier - carrying 10 liters of water from the store is too much trouble.
We rested for a while at home before meeting a colleague from work and his girlfriend (Olivier and Joelle). He lives nearby and had offered to show me around. Of course I took him up on it. He and Joelle met us at our apartment, and we wandered over to the Louvre seeing various shops and restaurants. Then we wandered back to the Marais where we were planning on dinner. Olivier was worried about us getting into the restaurant (L'Apparemment) as it was Gay Pride day. We saw parades, flags, balloons and excitement in the area, but the restaurant was on a quiet street near the Picasso Museum, and we had no trouble getting in. It was quite fun to have a meal with another couple - I think we all enjoyed it. The restaurant had a format some in Tucson may recognize - you take a card and mark a number of items to create a salad. Unlike Chopped, you get your salad with cheese, meat, and fruit on the side. It was a nice change from my recent meals that have involved meats that I didn't quite know what they were.
On the way home, we passed the city hall for the 4th Arrondesment where they had music playing. We also passed the backside of a naked man in the second floor window on Rue des Gravelliers (unsure if this had anything to do with Gay pride or not). France is not a place where one is overly modest... nor does anyone really pay attention to it. Overall, a full day of action. Ciao.
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